Associate Program Director

SPCSHP (previously known as Big Spaceship) is an independent agency of creative specialists exploring new ways to engage and connect with people. We are a diverse community of "explorers, not settlers" looking to help brands make meaningful human connections through curiosity and belief. Partnering with brands like Starbucks, Google, JP Morgan Chase, Tia, Fast Twitch, and more. Remote-first with over 100 humans and constantly growing, we are thrilled with your interest in joining our crew!

SPCSHP is looking for an Associate Program Director to join the Program Management team in the Midwest! In this role, you will lead the delivery and overall management of a portfolio of complex client engagements by working with a team of talented, cross-discipline leads, and you will serve as the focal point for tactical leadership while staying up-to-date on daily project activities.

Role + Responsibilities:

• Collaborate across disciplines for the development and delivery of agency content including print, digital, social, and video, creating the most efficient project workflow based on project scope and deliverables
• Stay up to date on the Clients’ business needs and priorities to understand the content needs and cohesion of messaging and visuals across all campaign assets
• Documentation and tracking of your projects to ensure work stays on track
• Creation of project timelines
• Creation of project budgets (understanding when OOP is needed and consulting with production or vendors for estimates)
• Resourcing (Forecasting and management)
• Oversee the project team’s activities to guarantee the overall quality of work and ensure projects are delivered on time and on budget
• Consistent project status communication out to Account, Production, Strategy, and Creative teams for weekly or daily internal and client status meetings
• Monitor and calculate the financial impact of scope creep and slippages and escalate as needed
• Keep clients on pace from a project milestone perspective and flag in real-time SOW implications when milestones are at risk of being missed
• Build strong relationships with agency discipline leads including Account, Strategy, Creative, Studio, Production, and Finance for support of projects
• Owner and operator of Agency process, knowing how and when to adjust based on project needs in conjunction with lead producer and senior resource manager
• Suggest and implement new processes that build on established processes to ensure consistent internal and client satisfaction, the most efficient workflow, and highest quality of deliverables
• Lead the development and creation of project scopes and staffing estimates in collaboration with the Account, Production, Creative, Strategy, and Analytics.
• Lead the team in creating estimates and gathering approvals from Clients and Vendors
• Be aware of how the process flows alongside Production on generating POs and approving invoices
• Track and reconcile project budgets while ensuring revenue tracking tools are accurate
• Build project plans with an understanding of internal resources, third-party capabilities, time requirements, and business objectives
• Additional duties as Client and Agency needs to evolve
• Lead constructive strategies with team members to implement change
• Anticipates and mitigates obstacles, risks, and business disruptions caused by change initiatives
• Effectively leverages hard data as inputs to making decisions
• Thinks several steps ahead in deciding the best course of action, anticipating likely outcomes, risks, or implications
• Approaches challenging team situations with optimism and an open mind, focusing on coming to a respectful conclusion
• Builds consensus to make and implement team decisions, often navigating through challenging tasks, ambiguities, or interpersonal obstacles
• Can handle difficult discussions or dynamics with an open-minded and professional demeanor
• Aligns project teams & clients around a vision focuses their efforts in the right direction & instills confidence in their ability to execute
• Monitors sold work and ensures successful delivery and client satisfaction and acceptance against the scope
• Drives mitigation solutions in higher-level conversations with internal or external stakeholders around issues and risks to support project teams
• Owns the development of scopes and helps/coaches project managers in getting smaller scopes from the first draft to final
• Assesses and monitors project financial performance; identifies potential risks and mitigates those risks
• Creates program-level financial models that accurately portray both the current state as well as future scenarios and determines the path forward based on those models
• Ensures appropriate resources are available to achieve objectives which may include contracting freelance, or additional resources such as content creators

Requirements

• 8-10 years of experience within a creative agency environment in a project management capacity
• Must be Mid-West based (Chicago or Detroit)
• You have extensive experience in a client services organization, structuring, and managing multi-year engagements with parallel and interconnected project tracks and teams
• You manage long-term, multi-million dollar engagements with multiple project tracks and teams, as well as a firm command of project management processes and methodologies
• You can focus on goals and solutions that impact both individual work streams but also the program as a whole
• You manage and set client expectations in partnership with Account
• You are a mentor and manager; someone who both leads by example, while also actively fostering the talents of those working under them
• Highly organized, highly motivated, goal and detail-oriented, self-starter who is passionate and experienced
• Someone who is all about hustle, flexibility, creativity, and adaptability in a highly challenging, positive, rewarding environment
• Experience with projects and deliverables ranging from $500k to $7m
• Strong ability to manage cross-discipline teams
• Understanding of, and experience executing projects that adhere to platform guidelines, legal considerations, advertising regulations, and best practices
• Strong Excel and Google Sheets skills
• Experience with contract writing
• Experience creating and managing budgets and staffing plans
• Experience in budget reconciliation
• Strong communication skills
• Ability to work both independently, and as a part of a team
• Ability to work well in a fast-paced environment